Activity Description: Accion International is a microfinance organization out of Boston, which provides small loans to 1.5 million people annually.  Its mission is to give people the tools they need to work their way out of poverty. By providing "micro" loans and business training to poor women and men who start their own businesses, Accion International's partner lending organizations help people work their own way up the economic ladder, with dignity and pride. With capital, people can grow their own businesses. They can earn enough to afford basics like running water, better food and schooling for their children.  Accion's partner microfinance institutions today are providing loans as low as $100 to poor women and men entrepreneurs in 22 countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, India and sub-Saharan Africa, and in the U.S. through the U.S. Accion Network.  In the last decade alone, Accion and its partners have disbursed over $7.6 billion in loans to nearly 4.1 million borrowers, 65 percent of whom are women.